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Old tax registers or population registers (mantalslängder) may not sound like a particular exciting research source. And many who look at tax registers are not easily impressed. Mostly just names, columns and numbers.

However, as we go back in time, the information in the household records becomes less detailed and the household records often do not exist in the late 1700’s or in prior times. It is at this time that the tax registers become a valuable source for the family researcher. Particularly useful are the tax or population registers (mantalslängderna), which begin around 1630.

The tax registers or population registers were created annually and are, like the household records, organized topographically by parish and village or farm. A single volume does not say so much. But when one follows the registers through a succession of years, one can follow developments and changes on a farm or village. This data can then be combined with the birth, marriage and death records, and often one can see the changes within a family nearly as clearly as if the household records had been preserved. The information in the tax registers or population registers varies over time and in different areas of the country.

At the time around the change of the century between the 1700’s and 1800’s, there is often good information in the columns in the tax register. In the above tax register which refers to Nätra parish in the year, 1803, you will columns for taxes referring to pocket watches (fickur) (gold or silver) and the use of silk (sidentyg).

In ArkivDigital, you can find tax registers or population registers for all of Sweden from the beginning up until the 1800’s (often 1820). Several copies of tax registers or population registers (mantalslängder) were created and they are preserved in different archives. Thus, they can sometimes be difficult to find.

The first series are found with the local authorities. You can search for these in the following archives in the English interface in ArkivDigital:

District registrar (Swedish – häradsskrivare)

Alternative archives

Kronokamrer

Kronokassör

Mantalskontor

Taxation Authority (Swedish – Uppbördsverk)

Kommunalborgmästare

Crown bailiff (Swedish – kronofogde)

The second series is at the regional level or county level in the regional archives or search for the country archives in the English interface.

The third series are at the national level in Stockholm. In the English interface, search in the chamber archive. Or you can enter mantalslängder 1642–1820 or länsräkenskaper in the search box. For Stockholm city, you can find population registers and other tax register in the Överståthållarämbetets archive.

Concerning the third series of the tax registers or population registers those named Mantalslängder 1642-1820, we are prioritizing photographing volumes for the counties and years that are missing in the other series. This is an ongoing project and more volumes will be added online. For the first two series, the photographing is now complete.

ArkivDigital is working currently to make it simpler to find all these tax or population registers.

One of the most common questions that one receives when one shows the household records to beginning researchers is: “Why are the names crossed out?”. The simple answer is that the names are crossed out when the person moves to another place or dies.

In this blog, we will show a case of someone moving to another place in the same parish.

Movements to and from a place are noted in the moving (flyttat) columns. In the record below, there are two moving columns: one showing movement to this place from another place and one showing movement to a new place.

The column noted with an “A” shows the place (parish, city or page in the household book with the date) where the person came from and the date.

The column noted with a “B” shows the place (parish, city or page in the household book) where the persons is moving to and the date.

In the above record, we see three movements for Maria, Olof Larsson’s barn (child) at the place, Backa, in Lysvik parish in Värmland county.

f. 481 5/11 67. She moves to a place on page 481 in the same household book on the 5th of November 1867. See image below.

f. 481 4/11 68. She moves back to this place (Backa) from the place on page 481 (Åsegård) in this parish book on the 4th of November 1868. The household record showing her living at Åsegård is shown below.

f. 532 19/10 70. She moves to a place on page 532 (Öjenäs) in the same household book on the 19th of October 1870. See Lysvik (S) AI:17 (1866-1870) Image 577 / page 532 (AID: v12038.b577.s532, NAD: SE/VA/13349).

In a previous blog, we searched for the birth record of Elin Andersdotter who was born on the 13th of July 1841 in Västra Torsås parish in Kronoberg county. In the birth record, we discovered her parents were Anders Nilsson and Ingrid Magnisdotter and that they resided at a place in the parish named Långasten.

Today, we will search for the family in the household records. Each pastor was required to take a yearly accounting of all members in his parish and test them for their religious understanding. In order to do this accounting, the minister made lists of all the people living in the parish, household by household. These records were kept in large books and each volume covers a series of years. The number of years vary by parish and time. Many of these books begin in the late 1700’s but they do exist earlier for some parishes. By using the household records and congregation books, one can often trace a person from birth to death or birth to emigration.

To search for the household records for 1841:

Return to the archive for Västra Torsås as shown in the above image.

Search for a household records volume that includes 1841.

Highlight the book Västra Torsås AI:6 1840-1847.

Double click and open the book.

Look for a place name index (ortsregister). This is usually in the front of the book but sometimes is in the back. Not all household records books have an index. In those cases you will need to page through the book to locate the place.

You will find the family on page 396. In the first column on the top line is the place name, No. 69 Långasten. The first column shows the family member names living in the household during the period the book covers.

The major column headings on this household record are:

Födelse – Birth

Flyttningar – Moving (Moves in and out)

Läser – Read

Nattvardsgång - Communion

Husförhör – Household examination

Omständigheter – Special circumstances or special remarks

Under the birth (födelse) column you will see the sub-columns, dag, år and ort which respectively mean day, year and place. In these columns, you will find the birth dates and birth places for each member of the household. In this case you notice that only the birth year is shown for the father while complete birth dates are shown for the rest of the family.

Usually, you will find the name of the parish in the birth place column. Sometimes, it will be a village name or sometimes the county name or a country. But in most cases, it is the parish name. In this case there is no entry and that usually but not always means the birth was recorded in the same parish as the household record so in this case, Västra Torsås. We do know that is true for Elin’s birth record. To search for the birth records for other members in the family, we should first look for their birth records in Västra Torsås.

The moving in and moving out columns (flyttningar) are very important columns. The columns indicate if the person has moved into or out of this place during the period the household records book covers or in this case 1840-1847. The moving in columns include the year (år) and from location (ifrån) and the moving to columns are year (år) and to place (till).

You will notice that there is an entry in the moving to column for Stina Johansdotter and her son Magnus Olsson. It states that they moved to a place that is shown on page 373 in the same book in 1848. Also, you will note their names are crossed out. A cross out indicates a person has moved or died. In order to find them at their new residence, go to page 373 in the same book. You will find them at the following reference in ArkivDigital: Västra Torsås AI:6 (1840-1847) Image 386 / page 373 (AID: v21256.b386.s373, NAD: SE/VALA/00453) Link.

There are no entries in the moving in or moving out columns for the other members of the household. Since there are no notations of a move, we can assume that they lived in the same place, No. 69 Långasten, in the previous household records book and in the subsequent one. We can trace the family both backwards and forward by looking for the place, Långasten, in the place name index in the previous and subsequent household records books and look for the family in the same manner as we did in this book.

The last column, Omständigheter or special circumstances, can offer some additional information about your ancestor. In this case, you will see the following noted for Stina Johansdotter:

TranscriptionLysn. d. 6/5 48 med Torp. Jöns Svensson

TranslationBanns of marriage date 6 of May 1848 for marriage with Torpare (Crofter) Jöns Svensson

Click here for more information about household records plus a record example in the Swedish genealogy section of our website.